Disinfo: The Mueller report is another proof of how Russia is always falsely accused

Summary

The final report by special counsel Robert Mueller cleared both Trump’s campaign team of collusion with the Kremlin and the president himself of obstruction of justice. It doesn’t provide evidence of Russian interference in the US elections in 2016. This proves how Russia is part of a campaign whereby it is always falsely accused of incidents, such as the poisoning of the Skripals, attempting to hack the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, interfering in the European elections or even Brexit.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report affirms that “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities”. Nevertheless it states that interference activities took place, as already concluded earlier by US intelligence community and by Mueller’s own inquiry: “the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts”. This was highlighted by several US media.

Moreover, it is not possible to infer from the report that Russia was falsely accused of other misdeeds, such as the poisoning of the Skripals and the hacking attempt against the OPCW. Strong evidence of Russian involvement for both incidents has been provided by the UK and Dutch authorities.

Russia bashing takes place in the French press. It has evolved a lot since the 70s and 80s when France’s media was pluralistic and discussions between different political figures took place. This is not the case nowadays. Take a random newspaper. Le Monde, for example: It is the Pravda of today. Its coverage of Russia is even worse than Pravda. Every media outlet reports the same. The question is, how has France reached this point?

In Russia, freedom of speech exists but in our own way.

In France, you can only say one thing about Russia, like aggression and that Putin is a dictator. This is freedom to say only one narrative. Let’s take coverage of Ukraine in France. It’s almost like one centre exists which indicates what to write: a democratic country is struggling against Russian aggression. Only a few media outlets mention that there are far right, Nazi forces in Ukraine which march like the Nazis in Germany in the 30s.

April 22, 2019

Disproof

No evidence given.

According to Reporters without borders, France ranks 32nd for freedom of speech among 180 countries, the same as for 2019. Russia is at 149, behind, for example, the United Arab Emirates. Its ranking means that the Russian press is not free “in its own way” as specified.

Facebook is a project of the Soros Foundation, which is financed by the National Security Agency. Hence, Facebook’s global objective is to collect personal data for the purpose of the American security service.

April 22, 2019

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin conspiracy about the US and social media. The claims are ungrounded. After the leaks by NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA collected data from Facebook users, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckeberg expressed his disapproval of the NSA’s actions and said that he had spoken to then president Barack Obama by phone to “express [his] frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our futures.”

See earlier disinformation messages alleging excessive control over Facebook by American security bodies here and here.

Russia fully respects the norms of international law. If there are some who feel offended, Russia has nothing to beg pardon for. Russia does everything that meets the norms of international law and the United Nations Charter. Russia respects the right of peoples to self-determination, including that of ethnic minorities, whether in Crimea or another regions. Sanctions will be ineffective in putting pressure on both Russia and other countries that respect their history and identity.

April 22, 2019

Disproof

According to international law, Crimea is part of Ukraine. Russia violated international law, as well as the key principles of the European security framework, by illegally annexing the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.

On March 27th, 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it stated that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, recognised on April 17th, 2015 that "our soldiers were deployed in Crimea to help the inhabitants express their opinion".

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Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.